Revitalizing the tourism industries of Korea, China and Japan through cooperation that was the key issue at this year's Trilateral Tourism Ministers' Meeting.
Korea's Tourism Minister Choung Byoung-gug, his Chinese and Japanese counterparts and some 4-hundred-50 officials and representatives gathered in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province for the sixth annual meeting.
During the official trilateral meeting on Sunday, the ministers had four main issues to tackle.
The tourism industries of the three nations had all been affected by unexpected crises like natural disasters, with Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami being the most recent event, and the tourism chiefs sought ways to adopt a system to jointly overcome these unforseen disasters.

[Interview : Choung Byoung-gug, Minister
Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism] "The geographical locations of Korea, China, and Japan make the three countries even closer than some of the local cities. That is why we should develop a program to jointly overcome crises. And if it's successful, it will provide an opportunity for the three nations to begin a new era in the international tourism industry."

The ministers agreed to work towards establishing the "Tourism Vision 2020" plan, a blueprint for opening up an era of major tourism exchange between the three East Asian countries in the year 2020.
They also vowed to monitor unfair activities like selling low-cost dumping package products by establishing the Korea-China-Japan Fair Trade in Tourism Initiative and regularly holding three-way seminars and symposiums as well as starting joint businesses to expand trilateral tourism exchange.
Some of the businesses include boosting student exchanges as well as developing three-way tourism packages.
And the tourism ministers of China and Japan who were briefed on Pyeongchang's plan for its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, promised their support for bringing the Winter Games to the Korean city.

[Interview : Shao Qiwei, Chinese Minister for Tourism] "Korea is doing a good job in its efforts for the Olympic bid. I think Pyeonchang has an excellent environment for hosting the Winter Games. I saw the outline for the bid and it has a lot of good qualities."

[Reporter : Hwang Sung-hee
ssung86@arirang.co.kr] "The 6th Trilateral Tourism Ministers' Meeting will come to a close on Tuesday, but the ministers will meet again next year in Japan to further discuss ways to boost three-way tourism exchanges.
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News, Pyeongchang."